Milwaukee, WI – The Serv-U Pharmacy at N. 53rd and W. Burleigh streets closed Monday, part of the retirement plan of owner Dave Draeger.
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It’s a familiar scenario for a small, independently owned business. But this closing is painful to the store’s customers in a way that sets it apart from the others: Draeger served nearby Congregation Beth Jehudah, an Orthodox Jewish community with tight restrictions on the Sabbath.
Their rules forbid driving, doing business or using mechanical devices on the Sabbath – all of which make it extremely difficult for Orthodox Jews who find themselves in need of medicine on a holy day. Draeger helped his Jewish neighbors abide by their rules by filling verbal prescription orders and allowing them to pay after the Sabbath.
“Oh no!” said Channe Skier, a Beth Jehudah member, when she heard about the store’s closing. “He’s just a treasure.”
Read the full story at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Rite Aid, CVS and Duane Reade national firms do the same in Boro Park
Its not such a difficult problem. If they cannot make special accomodations, its still oK to make a telephone call and purchase drugs on shabbos in an emergency for critical medical needs. These situations should obviously be kept to a minimum but no one should ever risk their health to any degree based on some agnst over melacha bashabos.
I completed the Baltimore Eruv in 1981 and created our Shabbos Taxi and Prescription service a few years later. The system works with prepaid accounts at pharmacies and taxi companies. I’ll send you all the info if you send me an email to [email protected] and put Shabbos Taxi and Prescription Service in the subject line.
What I dont think people in the New York area realize, is that in a small community such as Milwaukee, it’s very difficult to make medical arrangments on Shabbos, especially as the nearest CVS is outside of the eruv. What is simple for East Coasters to arrange is a lot more difficult here, and the closing down of the pharmacy is really a loss to our community. Getting medications on Shabbos and Yom Tov will now be a very difficult task.
We have benifited much from this service. Thank you Dave!
CVS has arranged that a representative from their store comes to the shul at 10:00 AM on Shabbos morning to see if anyone needs a prescription filled. If they do, CVS will fill the subscription and deliver it back to shul before the end of davening.